Daily Dose: 8/29/17

1:18 PMIt’s official, I’m playing fantasy football this season. Not with my friends, since they kicked me out of the league, but with my office, since, yanno, I signed up. My squad name is “DONT @ ME PLEIGHBOI,” so take heed. Can’t wait.

A police officer is going to jail for unreasonable force. In Chicago, no less. I, for one, am shocked. In most places in the United States, because of the way our justice system is structured, never mind institutionalized racism — both of which overlap — law enforcement officials are almost never convicted of such acts. Rarely are they even charged, for that matter. But this case was so egregious because the offending officer tried to say that he was hoping to save one teen’s life by shooting at him in a car full of others. Yeah, nah. That makes no sense.

Maybe Tuesday will be another big ratings win for President Donald Trump. After he made that awful quip Monday, while Texas was being pummeled by Tropical Storm Harvey, regarding why he decided to pardon Joe Arpaio, Trump’s headed to Texas on Tuesday. Lucky for him, he’s got another crisis on hand to try to capitalize on. North Korea has apparently launched a missile, which flew over Japan. Trump says that as far as retaliation, all options are on the table. Whatever that means.

Ed Skrein has a perpetual invite to the cookout. He was supposed to be playing a role in a new Hellboy reboot that was initially written as a person of Asian descent. But when he learned that, instead of adding to Hollywood’s huge issue and basically core value of whitewashing everything, he pulled out. Like, legit said, “Nah, I’m good, this isn’t right and I don’t want to contribute to this problem.” So don’t tell me that it’s impossible to switch things up to make them right when you realize something is wrong in casting.

Tropical Storm Harvey is clearly creating problems across multiple fronts. Obviously, the flooding and destruction are devastating. As a result, the sports world is certainly being affected. Most pro sports teams in Texas have had to relocate games, and it’s affecting historically black colleges and universities as well. The Labor Day Classic between Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M has now been moved to Thanksgiving, which means the whole weekend of festivities surrounding that event has unfortunately been canceled as well.

Daily DoseHOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 27: In this handout provided by the Army National Guard, A Texas National Guardsman carries a resident from her flooded home following Hurricane Harvey August 27, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi late Friday evening, is expected to dump upwards to 40 inches of rain in areas of Texas over the next couple of days. (Photo by Lt. Zachary West/Army National Guard via Getty Images)Photo by Lt. Zachary West/Army National Guard via Getty Images

Daily Dose: 8/28/17

1:36 PMHey, gang, I have good news and bad news. First, the bad news: The Morning Roast is coming to an end. Football season is upon us, and programming is changing, alas. Good news: There’s one more show left. Check out this week.

I think McGregor's biggest problem tonight was that these three artisanal bartenders kept offering him craft cocktails. pic.twitter.com/yF9zFfNAlM

All prayers go to Texas. In a storm the likes of which no one alive has ever seen before, Hurricane Harvey has basically destroyed large parts of the state with both rain and wind and the subsequent flooding. And it’s not getting any better anytime soon. They say that recovering from this will take years, and don’t forget: Quite a few people who survived Hurricane Katrina back in the day had permanently relocated to Houston. This is a nightmare all over again for them. The police chief’s advice? Hunker down, they’re trying. This is such a sad situation, overall.

Might be time to get that Amazon Prime account, if you’d been holding out. The official sale of Whole Foods to the megaretailer became official on Monday, and word is that prices will be dropping at the high-end grocer rather soon as a result. This means that Jeff Bezos owns one of the country’s most prominent media companies, as well as a massive online sales operation, besides a monster food chain. Dude is doing a lot. How this will affect any of those businesses overall, who knows? Here are the details.

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t watch the MTV Video Music Awards. Typically, it’s my favorite of all the award shows. This year, I just didn’t have it in me as a result of the fight on Saturday draining all my desire to watch long, live programming for the rest of the weekend. But Katy Perry was the host, and from what my Twitter feed says, there were a decent number of solid performances. It’ll likely air 23 more times in the next five days, but if you just want to catch up on what you missed, you can do that too.

By many accounts, Vontaze Burfict is a dirty player. He’s had that reputation for a while in Cincinnati, and now the league is suspending him for five games as a result of a hit he put on a Chiefs player this preseason. Look, I don’t know what his deal is or why he can’t seem to stay out of trouble regarding his on-the-field play, but this dude needs to get it together. The NFL allows a lot of reasonable leeway when it comes to the basic concept of knocking the crap out of people, and the fact that he can’t seem to get it right is troubling. He plans to appeal the decision.

Free Food

Coffee Break: Russell Wilson seems like a nice guy. He and Ciara make a lovely couple, and generally he is a pretty decently liked person. But whatever he had in mind for his outfit at the Mayweather-McGregor fight is beyond me. I mean, look at this outfit. Dude looks like Carlton from that episode of Fresh Prince when they go to Compton, California.

Daily DoseCLEVELAND, OH – AUGUST 21: A group of Cleveland Browns players kneel in a circle in protest during the national anthem prior to a preseason game against the New York Giants at FirstEnergy Stadium on August 21, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

When multiple Browns players took a knee in Cleveland during the national anthem last week, it wasn’t impromptu. As it turns out, this was a decision that went through multiple channels and happened with the blessing of the franchise. You might recall that head coach Hue Jackson made some comments on the matter a while back that some viewed as unproductive. Well, he felt he was misinterpreted. Check out this in-depth look at how it all came together for the Browns. Also, let’s not forget what one Ohio Supreme Court justice said on it.

We’ve all been on family vacations. Sometimes there are multiple parties involved, as in, different constituencies who don’t necessarily live in the same household. So interests are not exactly congruent, and even though you all love each other, so to speak, that doesn’t mean you’re always going to get along. In many ways, it can feel like a competition. And if you were to hold a news conference after one in which people had to answer questions like athletes, you’d probably get a hilarious scene.

If you’ve never been to Africa, you don’t know what it’s like. Ancient and modern depictions of the continent are typically rooted in racist, colonialist and otherwise just stupid, misguided generalizations. As a result, people still believe that Africa is full of jungles and darkness. FYI, that’s not the case. So when a Harvard professor decided she wanted to re-create the Heart of Darkness boat cruise and write about it, we knew we were in for a trip. But there are ways to report on the continent, which ain’t one country. Take some time and learn something.

Saturday’s finally the night. Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will get into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, and hopefully McGregor will deliver a vicious roundhouse to the face of Mayweather and set off a vicious brawl that will be far more entertaining than the described bill. Alas, most people want an actual fight, but we all know that’ll likely be super boring. That said, multiple $1M bets on Mayweather have come into Vegas, which have caused the odds to move a little bit. Awesome.

Daily DoseBOSTON, MA – MAY 25: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics talks with LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers after the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 135-102 in Game Five of the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden on May 25, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Boston Celtics 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to the 2017 NBA Finals. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

LeBron James is not impressed with your shenanigans

There’s something so specifically stupid about jersey burning that makes it universally accepted as the single most pathetic and idiotic form of fan protest there is. A player does something you don’t like — or, in this case, moves on from a team through no choice of his own — so you set fire to the piece of clothing you bought with his name on it. Brilliant.

Over the years, the practice has turned into something that exists in the same universe as what we’ll call “face painters.” One step too far for even the hard-core sports fans, just a demonstrative display that ultimately only makes the person involved look silly. So when the Boston Celtics’ general manager decided he wanted to trade fan favorite Isaiah Thomas (and a gazillion other things) to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving, some fans uploaded a couple of videos of themselves burning Thomas jerseys. LeBron James was not happy about that.

So he tweeted his displeasure. Here they are, in reverse chronological order, because if I have to explain to you how Twitter works, then this isn’t the story for you anyway.

via Twitter

To be fair, clearly the two doing this are children, basically. That much is clear. But motivating James to create a further bond with the very guy who gave everything he had to that franchise, AND now he’s on the team that pummeled the Celtics by nearly 50 in an Eastern Conference semifinal in Boston? Dumb.

We know that this doesn’t represent every single Celtics fan, clearly. But for a town that’s already got an awful reputation regarding how it feels about certain athletes, this is a really bad look.

Daily DoseIMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR ACCUWEATHER – Cardi B is shaded from the hot summer sun by AccuWeather’s MinuteCast umbrellas at New York Fashion Week, Tuesday, September 13, 2016, in New York. The AccuWeather MinuteCast Street Team is at it again helping Fashion Week attendees stay stylish and one-step ahead of any possible precipitation. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for AccuWeather/AP Images)Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for AccuWeather/AP Images

We’ve seen a lot of lists about the number of quarterbacks who have signed in the NFL since Colin Kaepernick opted out. But have you thought about another number regarding what he was kneeling for and speaking out against in this country? As it turns out, police have killed more than 200 black Americans since Kaep first decided to protest. Think about that. So, whether or not you agree with what he and many NFL players have chosen to do, those numbers regarding law enforcement are not good.

You all know how I feel about Cardi B. As far as I’m concerned, she saved hip-hop this summer with her banger “Bodak Yellow,” which goes so hard it’s almost hard to believe. For those of us who’ve been fans for a while, her ability to handle the big stage is not a huge surprise. She’s been about this superstar life from the beginning. She also bought a Bentley — and she doesn’t even drive. When it comes to making it in New York, there are many levels of success. Getting recognized by The New York Times is certainly one of them.

There was a half-second earlier this week in which I considered buying the fight. I don’t know what came over me, but in a moment of weakness, I thought, I don’t want to waste my time running all over town trying to find a fun environment in which to watch it. Heck, I’ll get it and if someone wants to come over and pitch in, sure. But after watching that super low-wattage presser Wednesday, I’m definitely out. It seems these two can only go outrageous, vulgar yelling match or near silence. No in between, alas. Mayweather-McGregor is losing steam.

Free Food

Coffee Break: As a child, Chuck E. Cheese was a fun, if not slightly terrifying, experience. Why the latter? Because as much as they were supposed to entertain us, that animatronic band was absolutely a scary situation if you were a kid. Now they’re phasing it out, to which I say good riddance.

Snack Time: People get drunk and drown all the time. People get drunk and crash cars all the time. Not a lot of people get drunk and then get swallowed by a sinkhole on the beach and get buried alive. This story is nuts.